Mobile telecoms group Mobistar SA. will launch the iPhone 3G in Belgium from Friday - but more importantly it will be one of the few European countries where the the iPhone will be totally simlock-free.
Belgian regulators forbid "koppelverkoop" (forced bundling), so as a result punters have to pay a very hefty price - the 8GB …

Belgian-sim free?

The Mobistar PR states that the Jesus phone they'll be selling works on "any Belgian network", so is it a spin to avoid a rush of bloody foreigners (tm/(c) Daily Mail) coming to steal (oops buy, oops being rip off) all their precious iPhones; or are they actually locked to a +32 sim?

Don't count on me to put my precious Voda sim in one of those... (especially after looking at the traumatasing sim removal tool).

iPhone PAYG in Italy

will also be simlock free and open, cost is €469 for 8GB from Vodafone.it and TIM.it. Preregistration is available on the afore sites, however you'll need a Codice Fiscale (Italian Tax financial traceability number issued by the dreaded Guardia di Finanzia). The Contract iPhone 3G's from the two ops will be authorised at home via iTunes 7.7 , as they can't work out how to do it in-store. Demand is huge. Lots of sheeple complaining about the typical two thousand four hundred US dollar cost over the 24 month contract time. network d/l limited to between .6 and 1GB/month, but the two ops haven't got much data experience. The third Italian operator, 3 (tre), is hopping mad at not being involved in fridays debacle/free-for-all and intends launching a 3 branded iPhone 3G for €90 euros , with a minimum top up of around €10/20 per month, to undercut the others. 3 actually knows about data networks!

last fascinating fact for those who wish to spend dosh, look up the Apple UK refurb store, go to iPod, and refresh the "refurb iPhone" tab every few days. Rumour has it that once world+dog has bought 3G , then they'll release the mountain of 'refurb' 2G and iPod touches which are mysteriously stockpiled in Milton Keynes? (I made the MK bit up)